The former Tory chancellor Kenneth Clarke and the union leader Sir Ken Jackson criticised anti-euro groups for "twisting the facts" about Brussels as Britain in Europe published a pamphlet challenging recent reports about law-making in the European Union.

The pamphlet, Straight Bananas? - 150 anti-European myths exploded, is part of a drive to debunk anti-European myths, which the all-party pro-euro group claimed were to blame for the low level of support which exists in the UK for joining the single currency.

The stories exposed as false in the pamphlet include supposed plans by European commissioners to ban the traditional British loaf, overly curved cucumbers, shandy and soya milk, and to rename brandy butter as "brandy spreadable fat".

Mr Clarke, a patron of Britain in Europe, said: "We are all tired of the way some of the anti-European campaigns have twisted the facts about our place in Europe."

He added: "This pamphlet is one answer to millions of pounds worth of misleading propaganda."

At the TUC conference in Glasgow, Sir Ken Jackson, general secretary of the AEEU, said: "The No camp is built on myths and misconceptions. The polls show people want the hard facts."

Andrew Haldenby of Business for Sterling, a leading group in the No campaign, dismissed the pamphlet as "pathetic".